When CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Obama if he supported giving out such licenses, Obama replied: “When I was a state senator in Illinois, I voted to require that illegal aliens get trained, get a license, get insurance to protect public safety. That was my intention.”

But Blitzer was not going to settle for a non-answer answer and said: “Do you support or oppose driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants?”

Obama replied: “I am not proposing that that’s what we do.”

This led to laughter in the debate hall and it was not the good kind of laughter.

“No, no, no, no, look,” Obama said, trying to stumble his way out of his own answer, but Blitzer was properly relentless.

“This is the kind of question that is sort of available for a yes or no answer,” Blitzer said and the audience laughed again.

And, again, it was not the kind of laughter that Obama wanted to hear.

Marc Ambinder igen: "Viewers leaned that he was a governor who solved problems, who wasn’t in Congress, who has clear differences with the rest of the field on a variety of issues, and who sounded reasonable. Where has this Bill Richardson been?"